Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Ticketed? Stall ’em

Wired magazine (May) carries this bit of advice from attorney David Brown, author of Beat Your Ticket:

3. Stall. Two weeks before your trial, request a continuance from the court clerk. The longer you delay, the more likely the officer won’t be able to attend, which should result in a dismissal if you ask for one.

Question: is it ethical to advise clients to ask for continuances with the purely tactical aim of increasing the burden on an opponent, as opposed to the more aboveboard reasons one might have for such a request?

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9 Comments

  • Let me propose a hypothetical to Walter’s question: What if the defendant was mistakenly ticketed; say two cars were travelling closely. One fast-moving car had just passed a slow-moving car and the issuing officer erroneously ticketed the vehicle which was not breaking the law. Would such tactics be justified?

  • 1. Its not ethical to tell the defendant to request a continuance without a good cause.
    2. the response by todd rogers is just a delay tactic. Make a deal with the prosecuting attorney and get it over with.

    • By Doug

  • Many a defendant wish such a deal was that easy. But, alas, in one corner we have a witness who is a sworn officer, credible but also fallible. In the other corner, John Doe Driver. And how are you defining ethical and good cause?

  • And how are you defining ethical and good cause?

    ethical: being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice,

    good cause: is not delaying simply for the sake of delay in order to clog up the system, wasting time and resources.

  • Where is Euthyphro when you need him? Thank you for the sobering disappointment.

  • A friend of my pleaded guilty to speeding and was willing, if not happy, to pay a fine. Yes he broke the law, but he in no way was a reckless driver. What he did not understand was that his speeding was in a school zone where the speed limit was very low. Charles Manson got a better deal than this poor guy. In his case, he was underlawyered!

    It is ethical to use continuances to get the best deal for a client. Lawyers have a lot of discretion in defense strategy. Generally a good faith conversation with a prosecutor will do the trick as far a justice is concerned. Judges and prosecutors have their discretions too. A good judge will throw the book against those who abuse the system.

  • As a layman I found with my last 2 tickets that getting every continuance I could and then demanding a jury trial made them go away. Not ethical you say? Well when the
    cops start acting ethically so will I. I was convicted
    on a ticket I was totally innocent of because the
    cop told a lie and swore to it. I’m playing by their
    rules from now on.

    • By Dave D

  • Would it be unethical for a cop to plant evidence on a suspect he knew to be guilty? I mean, no epistemic questions about it…guilty…maybe this should be at Point of Law, but ever since I watched L.A. Confidential I’ve always wondered about this.

  • Absolutely ethical. Anything that doesn’t break a rule is “ethical.” Do what you can because they sure as Hell will.